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ON CHRISTMAS EVE 



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Copyright, 1910, by 
ALICE M. GUERNSEY 



CCI.A278708 



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Alice M. Guernsey 



' ' ' Tis a Christmas tale full 

fair, ' ' quoth she, 
4 ' Of the midnight bells of 
Saint Inderly. ' ' 



SAINT Inderly's tower 
rose dark and still 
To the moonlight's kiss 
on Christmas eve; 
The monks had chanted their 
vespers shrill 
And sunk to rest, by the 
saint's good leave; 
And the watchman dozed, as 
watchmen will — 
When there's none to know 
it there's none to grieve. 



And the bells in the tower were 
still as the night, 
Till the hour of the star and 
the manger-bed. 
And then, with a heralding 
burst of light 
From the glory of heaven, 
the angels sped — 
The angels bright as the quiv- 
ering light 
That over the arch of the 
belfry spread. 

O the bells, the bells ! 

O the wild notes free, 
As the Angel of Joy 

Woke their minstrelsy. 
" Ring out, O ye bells, 

For a child is born ! 
Ring, ring in your gladness, 

This Christmas morn. ' ' 



O the bells, the bells ! 

O the far, sweet strain 
As the Angel of Hope 

And the Angel of Pain 



Struck the chord of the bells ! 

* ' For a Child is King, 
And light in the gloaming, 

His birth doth bring." 

O the bells, the bells ! 

O the song earth sings ! 
For the Angel of Love, 

With her sun-bright wings, 
Bearing message of peace, 

Woke the echoes again, 
6 *Lo ! the child of the manger 

Is Saviour of men." 

O the bells, the bells ! 

O the birthnight song! 
O the chorus that echoed 

The hills along ! 
' 'Ring out, O ye bells ! 

Tell the lands afar 
Of the Child who is King, 

Under Bethlehem's star." 

And the monks were asleep; 
but the heart of a child 
Waked to the wonder of 
sound and gleam, 



One copy del. to Cat. Div. 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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